www.emeraldinsight.com

A Guide to Getting Published

Cristina Irving Turner

Transport Publisher

cirvingturner@emeraldinsight.com

@EmeraldTranspt

Aim and overview

Aim:

To provide an insider’s guide to academic publishing; suggest some practical tips and highlight best practice for submission

Overview:• About Emerald• Publishing process and peer review• Choosing a publication• Structuring your paper• Publication ethics• Dissemination and promotion

www.emeraldinsight.com

About Emerald

A brief introduction to EmeraldCompany history

• Founded in 1967 in Bradford

• Over 350 employees, with offices in China, India, Malaysia, Australia, Japan, Brazil, Dubai, USA

• Three core audiences: Public Sector, Corporate, Academic

• We publish 300+ journals, 240+ book series, 300 stand-alone texts

• Predominantly a social sciences publisher with impact in education, engineering, health and social care and transport

• Over 21 million Emerald articles were downloaded in 2013 – more than 50,000 a day!

• Potential readership of 15 million

Transport Geography and Emeraldwww.emeraldinsight.com/tk/transport

Subject areas of interest (journals): Operations, Logistics and Quality; Property Management and Built Environment; Marketing; Tourism and Hospitality and some in Business, Management and Strategy

Recently published Transport Geography books:

• Transport Survey Methods, Best Practice for Decision Making

• Sustainable Aviation Futures

• New Perspectives and Methods in Transport and Social Exclusion Research

Co-sponsorship of TGRG Postgraduate Prize-Deadline 22nd August 2014

Some relevant calls for papers:

• Knowledge Management in Transport

• Low Cost Airlines: antecedents and consequences of pathological leanness

• Future Cities and Urban Supply Chain Management

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The publishing process and surviving peer review

The publishing process

Review Cycle

Submit a paper

Basic requirements met?

REJECT

Assign reviewers

Collect reviewers’ recommendations

Make a decision

Revise the paper

[Reject]

[Revision required]

[Accept]

[Yes]

[No]Review and give recommendation

START

ACCEPT

Author Editor Reviewer

Michael DerntlBasics of Research Paper Writing and Publishing. http://www.pri.univie.ac.at/~derntl/papers/meth-se.pdf

The Editor(s) do an initial read to determine if the subject matter and research approach is appropriate for the journal (approx. 1 week)

The Editor(s) identify and contact two reviewers (approx. 1 week)

Reviewers usually have 6-8 weeks to complete their reviews

The Editor(s) assess the reviewers' comments and recommendations and make a decision (approx. 2 weeks)

Expected time from submission to review feedback: 3-3.5 months

Surviving peer review

Reasons for rejections

• Not following instructions – author guidelines

• Inappropriate to the journal scope

• Problem with quality (inappropriate methodology, not reasonably rigorous)

• Insufficient contribution to the field

Surviving peer review

“Many papers are rejected simply because they don’t fulfil journal requirements.

They don’t even go into the review process.”

• Identify a few possible target journals/series but be realistic

• Follow the Author Guidelines – scope, type of paper, word length, references style, etc.

• Find out where to send your paper (editor, online submission e.g. Scholar One). Check author guidelines which can be found in a copy of the journal/series or the publisher’s website

• Send an outline or abstract and ask if this looks suitable and interesting (or how it could be made so)

• Read at least one issue of the publication- join the journal conversation. You will be ‘desk rejected’ if you appear to be unaware of what has being said, or why you are submitting

• Include a cover letter – opportunity to speak directly to the editor, convince them of the importance of your manuscript to the journal

Surviving peer review

Don’t be in the 16% who gave up

Don’t give up! Everybody has been rejected at least once

Ask and listenmost editors give detailed comments about a rejected paper.

Try to improve and re-submit. Do your homework and target your paper as closely as possible

Rejection tips

Surviving peer review

A request for revision is good news!

• You are now in the publishing cycle.

• Nearly every published paper is revised at least once

• Even if the comments are sharp or discouraging, they aren’t personal

Surviving peer review

Revision tips

Acknowledge the editor and set a revision deadline

If you disagree, explain why to the editor

Clarify understanding if in doubt

Consult with colleagues or co-authors

Meet the revision deadline

Attach a covering letter which identifies, point by point, how revision requests have been met (or if not, why not)

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Structuring your paper

How to get started?

What do I write about?• Have you completed a project that concluded successfully?• Are you wrestling with a problem with no clear solution?• Do you have an opinion or observation on a subject?• Have you given a presentation, briefing or conference paper?• Are you working on a Doctoral or Master’s thesis?• Do you have a new idea or initiative?

If so, you have the basis for a publishable paper

How to select the right journal?

Choosing a journal to publish in is an investment decision. A good choice can enhance the impact of your work and your reputation

• Factors to consider are relevant readership, recent articles, communicative, societies and internationality, likelihood of acceptance, circulation, time from submission to publication

• What type of paper are you planning to write i.e. practice paper, research paper, case study, review, viewpoint? Check first what type of paper the journal accepts.

• Be political (e.g. national vs. international) and strategic (e.g. five articles in ‘low ranked’ journals vs. one in ‘top ranked’ journal)

• Do you have an open access mandate?

http://www.emeraldinsight.com/openaccess.htm

How to get started?Co-authorship as a possibility

• With colleagues or a supervisor, across departments, with someone from a different organization

• Practitioner / researcher /service user teams

• Especially useful for cross-disciplinary practice or research

• Ensure the manuscript is checked and edited so that it reads as one voice

• Exploit your individual strengths

• Agree and clarify order of appearance of authors and the person taking on the role of corresponding author

What makes a good paper?HINT: Editors and reviewers look for...

• Originality – what’s new about subject, treatment or results?

• Relevance to and extension of existing knowledge

• Research methodology – are conclusions valid and objective?

• Clarity, structure and quality of writing – does it communicate well?

• Sound, logical progression of argument

• Theoretical and practical implications (the ‘so what?’ factors!)

• Recency and relevance of references

• Internationality/Global focus

• Adherence to the editorial scope and objectives of the journal

• A good title, keywords and a well written abstract

Structuring your paper

Methods Results Discussion

Conclusion

Figures/tables (your data)

Introduction

Title & Abstract

Structuring your paper: titles

A good title should contain the fewest possible words that adequately describe the contents of a paper – leads onto the next slide on importance

of keywords

(A) A phrase that introduces the paper and catches the reader’s eye

(B) Keywords that identify focus of the work

(C) The "location" where those keywords will be explored

http://writing.markfullmer.com/academic-style-titles

Structuring your paper: abstracts• A structured abstract – in 250 words or less (no more than 100 in any one section)

• Purpose – Reasons/aims of paper

• Design – Methodology/’how it was done’/scope of study

• Findings – Discussion/results

• Research limitations/Implications (if applicable) – Exclusions/next steps

• Practical implications (if applicable) – Applications to practice/’So what?’

• Social implications (if applicable) – Impact on society/policy

• Originality/value – Who would benefit from this and what is new about it?

http://www.emeraldgrouppublishing.com/authors/guides/write/abstracts.htm

Editors: are busy! The abstract is their first contact with your paper and can sometimes make a decision at

that point whether or not it is suitable for their journal.

Readers (online): The abstract is often all a reader will see until they download the article.

Always ensure that you are clear, honest, concise and have covered all the major points

Structuring your paper: keywords

• Researchers search using key phrases. What would you search for?

• Look at the keywords of articles relevant to your manuscript – do they give good results?

• Be descriptive – topic, sub discipline, methodology and significant features

• Jargon – keywords should reflect a collective understanding of the subject, not be overly niched or technical

• Repeat appropriately – in the abstract and title for visibility

Structuring your paper: introduction

Convince readers that you know why your work is relevant and answer questions they might have:

– What is the problem? – Are there any existing solutions? – Which one is the best? – What is its main limitation? – What do you hope to achieve?

Structuring your paper: literature review

• Quote from previous research• What are you adding? Make it clear• Use recent work to cite• Self citing – only when relevant• Any work that is not your own MUST be referenced• If you use your own previously published work, it

MUST be referenced

http://www.emeraldinsight.com/authors/guides/write/literature.htm

Structuring your paper: method

• Indicate the main methods used

• Demonstrate that the methodology was robust, and appropriate to the objectives.

• Focus on telling the main story, stating the main stages of your research, the methods used, the influences that determined your approach, why you chose particular samples, etc.

• Additional detail can be given in Appendices.

http://www.emeraldinsight.com/authors/guides/write/structure.htm?part=3

Structuring your paper: results

As with the methodology, focus on the essentials; the main facts and those with wider significance, rather than giving great detail on every statistic in your results.

What are the really significant facts that emerge? These results will feed into your discussion of the significance of the findings.

Structuring your paper: discussion• Consider:

– Do you provide interpretation for each of your results presented?

– Are your results consistent with what other investigators have reported? Or are there any differences? Why?

– Are there any limitations?– Does the discussion logically lead to your conclusion?

• Do not– Make statements that go beyond what the results can

support– Suddenly introduce new terms or ideas

Structuring your paper: conclusion

• Present global and specific conclusions

• Indicate uses and extensions • Answer the original question • Apply to theory and practice • State limitations• State implications for further

research

• Summarise the paper – the abstract is for this

• Start a new topic/introduce new material

• Make obvious statements • Contradict yourself

Proof reading your work

Look for:• Incorrect grammar, spelling and punctuation- don’t rely

on a spellchecker • Flow, transition or sense problems• Unintended typographical errors • Accuracy of any mathematical or statistical content • Incomplete or inaccurate references• Ensure consistency over your manuscript• Know your own mistakes

TOP TIP: Show your work to a non-specialist

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Publication ethics

Publication ethics

• Don’t submit to more than one journal at once• Don’t self-plagiarise • Clear permission to publish interviews/case

studies

• Seek agreement between authors • Disclose any conflict of interest• Authors and editors are supported by the

Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE)

Publication ethics

• As the author, you need to ensure that you get permission to use content you have not created, to avoid delays, this should be done before you submit your work

• Supply written confirmation from the copyright holder when submitting your manuscript

• If permission cannot be cleared, we cannot republish that specific content

More information including a permissions checklist and a permissions request form is available at:

http://www.emeraldinsight.com/authors/writing/best_practice_guide.htm

http://www.emeraldinsight.com/authors/writing/permissions.htm

Copyright

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Dissemination and promotion

Dissemination and promotion

• Use online social networks to expand your reach- what’s used in your community?

• Create a website or a blog- but keep it up-to-date• Contact those you’ve cited• Create a video abstract• Leverage your professional, corporate, and

academic connections• Volunteer as a reviewer• Register for an ORCID• Make the most of your publisher’s PR campaign,

work with them to develop relevant, successful marketing messages

• Let your institutional press office know so they can spread the word – does your institution subscribe?

Summary

Write for us!

For any answers you didn’t get today (or were too shy to ask) …

cirvingturner@emeraldinsight.com

@EmeraldTranspt

1. Understand the publishing process and how to survive peer review

2. How to choose a relevant publication

3. Structuring your paper to the best effect

4. An appreciation of publication ethics

5. Tips to disseminate and promote your work